Smoke-consumer for furnaces



, (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

T. KIRKWOOD.

SMOKE CONSUMER FOR FURNACES. No. 268,412. Patented Dec. 5, 1882.

I 'I 1/ I WI NE55E5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS KIRKWOOD, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SMOKE-CONSUMER FOR FURNACES.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 268,412," datedDecember 5, 1882.

Application filed August 16, 1882. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS KIRKWOOD, acitizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illi nois, have invented certain new and useful1mprovements in Smoke-Consumers for Furnaces; and I hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

Myinveution relates to improvements in the construction of devices forinjecting air and superheated steam simultaneously into the tire-boxproper and other parts of the interior of the furnace for the purpose ofrendering the combustion as nearly complete as possible.

A common practice in devices of this kind is to admit the air through aperforated pipe,

extending transversely across the interior of the fire-chamber, andopening at one or both ends to the external air, and to admit the steamthrough a smaller perforated pipe within the air-pipe, and connecting atone or'both ends with the steam-dome, whereby the device operates on theprinciple of the Giffard injector.

The principal defect which is encountered in the use of devices soconstructed is thetendency of the pipes (especially the air-pipe) tofracture or warp under the influence of the intense heat to which theyare necessarily subjected. In furnaces wherein a very high degree ofheat is maintained the pipes, even though coated as effectively aspossible with refractory material, require to be renewed so often as torender this construction too expensive to be practicable. The warpingwhich precedes the fracture of the pipes, and which takes place to someextent even where,by reason of a more moderate heat being encountered,the pipes will survive for a reasonable length of time without fracture,(except, incidentally, of the refractory envelope,) tends to render thedevice defective by throwing the perforations in the two pipes (whichshould register with each other) out of line.

The object of my improvement is to provide a device of the generalnature above referred to, which, while even more effective in itsoperation than former devices, shall be also more.

durable and more readily removed and replaced when necessary.

The nature of my improvement will be readily understood from thefollowing description, reference being had to the aecom panyin gdrawings, of which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a hoilerfurnaceprovided with my improved device; Fig. 2, a vertical longitudinalsection of the same at one side of the boiler; Fig. 3, a plan view,partly in section, of my injecting device, with one casing-plate removedto show the interior construction; and Fig. 4, a cross-section taken atthe position of the line 4 4 of Fig. 3 of the device with botheasing-plates in place and keyed together. i.

A is the front wall of the furnace, B the bridge-wall, (3 the boiler,and D the dome.

My improved device for injecting combined air and steam is constructedas follows:

E is a wedge-shaped metal box, having a curved inner edge provided withopenings c, with rifled interiors, as hereinafter described, theremaining three edges being closed, except the one opposite the curvededge, which has an opening, a, into which the air-pipeF leads. I preferto make this opening square, and to provideit with a square attachment,it, through the end wall of which the air-pipe passes, as shown. The boxE is formed in two parts, 8 and s, to each of which, when in place, the

attachment t is secured by means of extensions r of the upper and lowersides, and rivets q, securing them to the inner faces of the parts.These parts are further secured together by means of keyed bolts 19passing through bolt-holes 0, and having their heads n'set within aprojection, m, upon the part 8, and incased within fire-clay.

The steam-pipe G enters the pipe F at a convenient point outside thefurnace, and connects with the curved perforated steampipe G by means ofa T-coupling, Z. This pipe'G' rests or fits in bearings k on the lowerpart of the box IE, is closed at each end by a suitable cap, and has itsperforations v at suitableintervals on the side toward the curved 5 IOOor rifled interior, as represented by the grooves h.

The application and mode of operation of my device is as follows: Ingeneral, two such devices are employed in the front wall of the furnace,being placed end to end. The parts are coated with a suitable refractorymaterial, and are set into the front wallwith the curved edgeof the boxE toward the interior of the chamber. The square attachment t fits intothe wall, the box itself being either wholly withinthefire-chamberorpartly in the wall and projecting into the chamber. Iprefer to have the pipes F pass back along the outside of the furnaceout of the boiler-room, to avoid the noise which is created by theinrushing air, and to have the steam-pipes G enter these tubes at aconvenient point near the wall of the furnace. Steam admitted into thepipe G by way of the pipe G rushes out by way of the perforations'vthrough the rifled openings '0 into the interior of the furnace, drawingwith it air from the interior of the box, which finds its way there byway of the air-pipe F. The curved wall fot the box may be made of suchthickness as to give these rifled air-outlets any desired length. Inrushing rapidly through the openings 1; the air acquires a cyclonicmovement, which it imparts more or less to the steam, and I find thismovement greatly to enhance the effectiveness of the device. Even wherethe grooves h are omitted from the interiors of these openings, however,a very high degree of effectiveness is secured by means of the device.

In large furnaces I prefer to place such a device also in thebridge-wall, as shown at H; but owing to the situation it is necessaryto introduce the air into the box at its end instead of at its center,and to use one box extending the entire width of the chamber instead oftwo, each of half the width as in the front wall. The air and steam forthis device in the bridge-wall may be derived from branches of the pipesF and G. Of course, if desired, the air and steam may be introduced atthe ends of the boxes in the front wall also.

The mechanism represented by the letters I e d c b a represents anapparatus for opening and closing the steam-pipe G, the mechanism beingautomatically operated by'the opening and closing of the furnace-doorsat times of introducing fuel, the effect being to cause theinflow of airand steam to be greatest immediat'ely after the charging with fuel, andgradually to diminish, ceasing entirely at the end of a predeterminedinterval, which is gaged to be the time when the fuel has reached astate of full incaudescence. No particular description of this mechanismis necessary here, as it is fully described and claimed in my otherapplication for a patent, now pending.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a smoke-consumer for furnaces, the combination of the detachablebox IE, having its front wall provided with openings at intervals, pipeF, leading from the exterior air to the interior of said box, pipe G,leading from the dome of the boiler to the interior of said box, andpipe G, connected to the pipe G and lying along the front wall of thebox, and provided with openings 1; in line with the openings in thefront wall of the box,snbstantially as described.

2. In a smoke-consumer for furnaces, the box E,hav1ng its front wall,f,provided with openings 1], having grooves h, in combination with theair-pipe I steam-pipe G, and perforated steam-pipe G, having itsperforations v in line with the openings a), substantially as described.

3. In a smoke-consumer for furnaces, the box E, formed in two parts, 8and s, keyed together by a bolt, 12, and having its inner wall,

f, curved and provided with rifled openings 12, audits rear wallprovided with a hollow square attachment, t, for securing the box to thefront wall of the furnace, in combination with the ainpipe F, leadinginto the said attachment, steam-pipe G, passing from the dome of theboiler and through the attachment t nearly to the inner walhf, andsteam-pipe G, connecting with the steam-pipe G, supported in positionalong the wallf, and provided with perforations o in line with theopenings 11, substantially as described.

THOMAS KIRKWOOD.

In presence of- CHARLES C. LINTHICUM, THOMAS A. BANNING.

